Shamans Secret Garden: Grow and Use Healing and Magical Plants, Cactus, and Herbs..

How to grow and use healing and magical shamanic plants, catus and herbs. Natural healing cures and remedies. The healing power
and magic of plants. Grow lights with hydroponics or organic soil mixes outdoors or in greenhouses. Magical plants and herbs.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Shamans Secret Garden: A guide to growing tobacco at home for a fraction of the cost.

Start growing your own tobacco plants at home for shamanic use.

By Dr. Xochipilli

Note: This article is updated regularly.

The Native American shamans have been cultivating and using the tobacco plant since ancient days. They used it in there peace pipes and as offerings for the great spirit. They would often leave small offerings of tobacco, as a sign of thanks to the great spirit.

We have years of experience and offer expert advice and professional tips and techniques so you can start growing your own tobacco right away. It's easier than you think.

IS TOBACCO LEGAL TO GROW?YES- For personal use it is legal.NO-Not to sell, You can not sell tobacco without a license from the government. Selling tobacco that you grow is illegal in all countries. Actually in many countries it is illegal to trade or even give tobacco away, so check your local laws.

HOW HARD IS IT TO GROW YOUR OWN TOBACCO?

The big tobacco companies would love for you to think that it is hard to grow. But the truth is that it's really not that hard to grow at all, actually quit simple. You just need to find the proper tobacco plant for your area and even sunlight for healthy grow. The tobacco plant is strong and seems to take care of itself without much fuss.

HOW MUCH TOBACCO SHOULD I GROW
The average number of plants for one person, for one year seems to be about 12 plants. The average number of plants that people grow ranges from 12-24 plants.

Growing tobacco the tobacco plant

GETTING SEEDS
Make sure and get good quality tobacco seeds.
Good seed equals a good plant.
There are many sources online. I would stay away from ebay, because you just don't know what you are getting for sure and we have had some bad luck with the quality of the seed.
Here are a few companies online:www.thetobaccoseed.comwww.newhopeseed.com/tobacco_seeds

WARNING: Some tobacco plants are dangerous to humans! They are way, way to high in nicotine.

Make sure to get tobacco seeds that are for smoking, and not a ornamental tobacco plant.

SEED
There are many methods to starting your tobacco seeds. Seeds need only three things to grow; warmth, air and dampness. Seedlings do not need light to sprout, they use the energy already packed into the seed. Sow seeds about 24 inches apart. You should start seeds inside for a few weeks before transplanting outdoors. We usually go about 3-5 weeks before moving the plants outside.

METHOD ONE: Wet Paper Towel.
With this method, the seeds are placed between between two damp paper towels. After a few days, the seeds will sprout, then you simply, place the best ones right into soil for growing.
METHOD TWO: Peat Pellet
This method is my favorite. There is less of a harsh transition that could shock the seedlings. Peat pellets come in little disks, that expand with warm water. You simply place the seed in the hole, and wait for the tobacco seedling to outgrow the pellet. When this happens, you just place the peat pellet into a container with soil.
METHOD THREE: Direct in Soil.
This method requires the planting of many tobacco seeds right into the ground. Some will sprout, other will not. Then you must "thin out" the weak ones to give the other strong plants a better chance at life.

SOIL
Tobacco grows the best in a warm, fertile and well drained soil. Add sand, perlite, or vermiculite to soil for better drainage. If the soil does not drain well, tobacco plants can get what is called rot root, which is hard to fix, once the damage is done.

TOBACCO ORGANIC SOIL MIX
Here is a general organic formula that works well for most gardens.
• One Part Organic Soil mix
• One Part Peat Moss
• One Part Perlite
• 1/4 Part Humus or Compost
• 1/16 Part Organic Fertilizer (mix of: Blood meal, bone meal, cotten-seed meal)
• 1/4 Part Worm Castings

FERTILIZE
Tobacco plants need to be feed regularly for rapid growth. You can use organic fertilizer for the best tasting tobacco. Hands down, organic fertilized tobacco taste way better than chemically fertilized tobacco, the taste difference is profound. Do not over fertilize, this can kill the plants and lead to bad tasting tobacco. If there are signs of ever federalization, flush the plant with regular water for a few days. Choose a fertilizer that works for tomato plants, a standard 15-15-15 blend works well. A fish emulsion works very well as a all natural organic fertilizer. Never ever use pesticides on any plant used for human consumption.

SUN / LIGHT
The Tobacco plant needs a lot of light, so make sure and place the tobacco plant in a sunny spot. The plant should get 6 hours of direct light a day minimum, more light is preferred.

GROWTH

For optimal growth and robust harvest, there are few techniques experienced growers will use.

Remove Tops

You should remove the terminal tops of tobacco plants, so that the upper leaves will grow thicker and larger overall.

Remove Buds

You should also remove the buds before they open to force growth into the tobacco leaves.

Remove Suckers

The small axillary buds on the leaves should also be removed after they have grown a few inches.

HARVEST
When the tobacco plant has grown large enough and there is a lot of large leafs, it's ready for harvest and curing. Usually about 4-5 feet tall.

CURING
This is the most important step and should not be overlooked. Improper curing can be the main reason for bad tasting tobacco. Curing can take the most time of the whole process. People cure tobacco for a few months to a few years in some cases.

The main thing to keep in mind when curing is a "slow dry" process. The tobacco should not be cured or dried quickly, as this will lead to harsh tasting tobacco.

A cool, dry and airy place is really all that is needed. A controlled environment with minimal temperature and moisture fluctuations is best. You do not want the tobacco leaves to dry to fast that they become brittle and dry out. You also do not want to dry the tobacco to slow, because it can sometimes rot and develop a fungus.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

After being virtually ignored by Western civilization for centuries, there has been a huge surge of interest in Ayahuasca recently. There is a growing belief that it is a kind of ‘medicine for our times’, giving hope to people with ‘incurable’ diseases like cancer and HIV, drug addictions and inspiring answers to the big ecological problems of modern civilization. Interviewed with Peter Cloudsley.

After being virtually ignored by Western civilization for centuries, there has been a huge surge of interest in Ayahuasca recently. There is a growing belief that it is a kind of ‘medicine for our times’, giving hope to people with ‘incurable’ diseases like cancer and HIV, drug addictions and inspiring answers to the big ecological problems of modern civilization.

Ayahuasca is not a drug, it is regarded as a gateway to another reality, a reality which co-exists with our physical world. From this reality an experience of the totality of inter-connectedness can be personally experienced. Ayahuasca is also known as La Purga (The Purge) due to it’s powerful physical ‘clearing’ effect, but it is more than just physical clearing it is also an energetic clearing of personal history as well. It is never to be taken lightly and only under the supervision of a shaman who is well versed in the ways of the plant.

Spirituality is at the centre of the Ayahuasca experience. Purification and cleansing of body, mind, and spirit in a shamanic ceremony can be the beginning of a process of profound personal and spiritual discovery. This process can continue indefinitely even if one never drinks Ayahuasca again. One thing is sure, and that is that every person gets a unique experience. We believe that by seriously looking at the way Ayahuasca is used we can improve our life experience and benefit more from this medicine. Ayahuasca is the jungle medicine of the upper Amazon. It is made from the ayahuasca vine ( Banisteriopsis Caapi) and the leaf of the Chacruna plant (Psychotria Viridis). The two make a potent medicine which opens the doors to experiencing the energetic world which underlies the world of everyday.

The vine is an inhibitor which contains harmala and harmaline among other alkaloids, and the leaf contains vision inducing alkaloids. As with all natural medicines, it is a mixture of many alkaloids that makes their unique properties. For example, Peyote, the cactus used by the North Native Americans, is said to contain 32 active alkaloids, so when one of those alkaloids, mescaline (LSD) is synthesised in a laboratory, contrary to popular opinion, the result is not at all the same.

Ayahuasca is a name derived from two Quechua words: aya means spirit, ancestor, deceased person, and huasca means vine or rope, hence it is known as vine of the dead or vine of the soul. It is also known by many other local names including yaje, caapi, natema, pinde, daime, mihi, & dapa. It plays a central role in the spiritual, religious and cultural traditions of the Indigenous and Mestizo (mixed blood) poeples of the upper Amazon, Orinoco plains and the Pacific coast of Colombia and Equador. The plants are collected from the rainforest in a sacred way and it is said that a shaman can find plentiful sources of the vine by listening for the 'drumbeat' that emanates from them. The mixture is prepared by cutting the vines to cookable lengths, scraping and cleaning them, pounding them into a pulp, and then adding the chacruna leaves. The mixture is then boiled about twelve hours until it is a thick brown liquid.

To understand ayahuasca in the local context, one cannot avoid taking a look at the ecological environment, such as the rainforest, cultural environment and indigenous cultures. This has structured the cultural content of ayahuasca.

One of the more romantic stories takes place amongst the Shipibo people who live up the river in the heart of the jungle in the Peruvian Amazon. This tale is centered around women, more so than men, as they look after the children and their health, whilst the men are out hunting and fishing. Men are more interested in plants that aid their inner spirits when hunting , whilst women are more interested in plants that will allow their children to grow. There was one particular woman who was very interested in plants, who liked to pick the leaves of different plants. She would then crush the leaves into a pot and soak them in water over night. She would then take a bath every morning before sunrise (the way to find out about various plants and their effects is to bathe in them). She bathed in them every morning until she had a dream. In her dream a woman came and said, “why are you bathing every day?” She answered “I am doing this as I want you to teach me.” The other woman said “You must seek out my uncle, his name is Kamarampi. I will show you where to find him”. The woman led the other woman to her uncle. The uncle showed her how to mix the leaves of the chacruna, which was a bush she had taken leaves from to bathe in. He showed her how to prepare the brew of Ayahuasca, he told her to go and tell the people the knowledge of how to use the brew.

One of the many mysteries surrounding Ayahuasca is how the vine became to be used with the Chacruna leaves as although they both come from the same soil but always grow apart otherwise the ayahuasca winds around the Chacruna and kills it. No one knows this but we get a clue from how the shamans interact with the plant. Javier Arevalo a shaman from the Peruvian Amazon told us “ that his grandfather and uncles used to sit around after taking ayahuasca and he said that ayahuasca was originally taken alone and in the visions they saw that chacruna was missing. Ayahuasca would say I am the doctor that gives the vision. His grandfather responded, how can we find this plant? The response in the vision was, you can find it by turning two corners. So they went around two corners and found a bush which attracted them which was chacruna i.e the ayahuasca showed them.

This is a fundamental principle, in the visions it is the spirit doctor of ayahuasca which tells them what is wrong with their patient, what medicine they need, or who has caused the illness or malaise.

Ayahuasca and the spirit of plants.

In the West there are lots of stories like ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ reminding us that plants have spirit power, Alice in Wonderland explored this world too. There is a large body of knowledge of power plants even if the form has been adapted to fairy tales and ‘domesticated’, not to under rate the richness of Grimms’ tales.

All the plants used in medicine today were known by our ancestors. McKenna suggested that the evolution from primates to humans was achieved when we left the tropical rain forest to inhabit the savannah regions. We learned to stand on two legs and consumed psychotropic mushrooms. Interaction of plant and animal, change of diet meant a change of consciousness. Goats have a habit of eating all kinds of herbs which is why in the Andes, you are not supposed to eat goat’s milk or meat if you are having mental problems. In Lapland the reindeer eat the hallucinogenic mushrooms and the shamans drink their urine which has been “processed”.

When a person drinks Ayahuasca, especially with a trusted shaman, there is a chance to learn and trust the plant. You discover that it works in its own way. It is a great moment getting to this point. Then there is the question of whether the plant trusts us, because it can be abused and used for getting the wrong kind of personal power. Without intention, vision, preparation, and a shaman, it is a drug not a healing medicine.

In the Amazonian world Ayahuasca, as indeed all plants, has a spirit which is angelic but also has human emotions projected like jealousy, vengefulness, wroth etc. When it is being prepared, the shaman has to watch over it at all the time to prevent bad spirits being introduced. The fire needs tending regularly throughout the 10 hours concoction and the shaman should diet during this time. It is said that the spirit of Ayahuasca is very jealous and that if the rules of its preparation are not respected it is resentful. We wonder if this is a cultural thing or would it happen to us Westerners as well. During our interviews we constantly found that the general rules about the working of Ayahuasca did not always match up with our own experiences. For example the addition of toe (bella dona) and tobacco to induce vomiting is supposed to make you have a clear head the next morning but we found sometimes it was the other way round. We found it hard to pin down which were the decisive factors.

Sexual abstinence is another thing which is emphasised yet this seems to be a very individual thing. It would seem though, on reflection, that the purpose and intentions of the shaman are among the more important factors, that he follows the diet during preparation and for the session. At all times he is placing his energy where the Ayahuasca is. This also means that not anyone can be present to watch the brewing process, their quality as people as well as whether they had dieted, practised abstinence or had a period, all have an influence. When we watched the shaman Javier Arevalo preparing, his wife would do the washing and shredding of the Ayahuasca. After it had boiled for a while, Javier lit a large mapacho (hand rolled jungle tobacco) and blew smoke over the top of the concoction. The two of us were invited to do this as well. When this is done you can feel a blast from the boiling Ayahuasca in your face. Later in the session, the shaman or the person who has blown the smoke, feels the return of this blast and passes it on to his clients.

It is also important that none of the clients watch the process of preparation. In particular, a woman passing by who was having her period, could leave a bad energy with the medicine. This is a vexed question, the origins of which seem to be traceable to Christian, Amazonian and countless other traditions.

Anthropologists call it taboo for want of a rational explanation, but as with all things of the primordial world, there are reasons inherited from ancestral times, which may have been forgotten. At the dawn of time, realities were very different from what they are today. Mythology may shed some light on the matter, but one thing is sure we don’t really know! However it’s reasonable to make the assumption that our ancestors were not frivolous. We worked extensively with Javier Arevalo and we had many discussions on the role of the Amazonian shaman and the use of ayahuasca. Javier comes from Nuevo Progreso, a community of 50 families on the Rio Napo, Department of Loreto, Peru. Several generations of his family before him have been shamans and already at the age of 17, he knew this would be his future. However it was not until he was 20 when his father died from a ‘virote’ (a poisoned dart in the spiritual world) sent by a jealous brujo, (sorcerer) that he felt compelled to follow the arduous five-year apprenticeship to be a shaman.

Javier, what is the role of a shaman? He learns everything about the rain forest and uses that knowledge to heal his people since they do not have money for Western style doctors. He uses Ayahuasca to discover in his visions, which plants will be effective for which illnesses.

How do you perceive this? The sprits or plant doctors tell us. As they are pure, they are made happy when we are too, so we must diet in order to attract them. That means we should not eat salt, sugar or alcohol, and abstain from sex. The spirits come and say, for example they will cure in two months if the patient takes a particular plant. Then the shaman goes out to look for the plant. It is said that every environments has the necessary plants to heal the people?

Yes, every plant has a spirit, the shaman goes into the forest as part of his apprenticeship and spends two years taking plants and roots. He takes Ayahuasca too and the spirit tells him what it cures. Then the shaman tries another plant, each time remembering which ailment is cured by what.

Does each shaman have to find it all out for himself or is there a body of knowledge handed down? The maestro goes with the apprentice into the wilderness and gives him the different plants and it is like a test or trial to overcome. The maestro is usually a member of family. In my case both my grandfather and my uncle were maestros. You go off deep into the forest with your maestro and make a very simple shelter or ‘tambo’. A shaman must not live in a big house, its just for sleeping and dieting. How long do you have to diet the plant? Just one day to know its process, the next day you move onto another. This is if you do not return to the city, you can get through a lot of plants. This is different from dieting a plant for a month say. So does every condition or illness have a particular plant to remedy it or is it a spirit energy which comes through the plant which can cure many things? One plant may cure lots of ailments. A particular plant has a spirit which can either heal or kill. As for example with another shaman (who we worked with earlier) , who had not dieted Ayahuasca correctly and poom! it caused fever and people caught colds.

So why would a plant kill or cure? Because an hechicero (sorcerer) also learns from the plants. He may for example learn from dieting a plant which has spines or phlegm which could be good for certain things. But if he is bad no one can stop him and in the night ‘ffoooo’ he uses it for harm or to kill. These are the brujos who come back from the forest with eyes red like the huayruro (red beans with black spots). He is a bad shaman and we have to cure the people they harm.

Who would want to do such things? There are some people who have a squabble with someone, and then they go off to see a brujo and say “this Senora talks too much and has insulted me, kill her and I’ll pay you”. They pay them and they do harm.

But the shaman who made us ill did not do it intentionally. No, of ignorance. It was a shaman from the city not from the forest. He went away and left us to mop up the ill effects. He may have had a good teacher but does not diet, he is very fat! (People in the jungle are rarely fat.) In addition he probably eats the day of the session and that is why he threw up himself!

How does this affect Westerners? It doesn’t matter, they will probably throw up and not have any vision because when he blows he has condiments on his breath. However, it matters much less if the clients have eaten or not stuck rigorously to the diet. The important thing is that the shaman diets.

Note: There is much discrepancy between shamans concerning the question of vomiting. Some say it is necessary for the body to rid itself of what ever is necessary and that if they are not sick they might get ill. (Ayahusaca is often referred to as La Purga.) Others say if you vomit you will not have such good vision and on no account should a shaman vomit.

Why and how did you become a shaman? I never thought of being a shaman. I took Ayahuasca from 14 years old just to clean my stomach. Later my father said I heard you chanting, you are going to be a shaman. I don’t want to I said. Later when I was 20 my father died from sorcery so then I wanted to learn in order to take vengeance. During my apprenticeship I had a change of heart and understood that God knew best in such situations.

Why did the brujo want to kill your father? Because he was a curandero who had cured someone who had been harmed by the brujo. It happens because we curanderos undo the work of the brujos and they get angry with us. This is the famous spiritual battle between the brujos. When you cure you send the bad magic back to where it comes from and the brujos get their own dirty medicine back. This is why there is a fight between the good and the bad.

Howard tells story of his battle with one of Javier’s assistants 3 weeks earlier. (Javier laughs a lot and explains.) Well because he was not really a shaman, he works as a guide, he drinks liquor. Then when he takes Ayahuasca and chants icaros he is not pure and his doctors don’t take any notice of him. The spirits start bothering (molesting) the people participating in the session. That is what happened to Howard. When I take Ayahuasca I talk to the doctors who give visions, I ask them to cure, I have dominion over them because I diet. If I don’t, they make you crazy or annoy you. So if the shaman cannot control himself, then the spirits get out of hand? If you can’t dominate the spirits of the jungle you are nobody, instead of curing they run away or take no notice of you.

So the control of the spirits is fundamental? Spirits are like angels. God withstood 40 days of hunger and temptation by the devil and was resurrected. That’s what we have to do too.

This is Christianity, but your (Javier’s) people were practicing long before the missionaries came. Is it possible to separate the Christian from the wisdom of the jungle?

No, no, they work together. But it has nothing to do with going to a church. You learn all this in the wilderness. The spirits there are the angels of each plant to which you add your will to heal the client. This is the will of Christ.

Where does the power of the shaman end and the spirits begin?

The shaman receives the power from the jungle, he doesn’t have any power of his own that he doesn’t get from the forest.

When I look at you by day I see just a normal young man, when you wear your clothes and move into the ayahuasca space you become different, a different presence, you become larger… (Javier laughs!) The medicine is not in the body, the body can wear clothes for example, and you see that by day. But at night you don’t see my body, you see my spirit which receives the medicine which transforms me through the vision. I have to be pure so as to be a receptacle of the spirit of the medicine. It is essential too for a shaman to be happy, the shaman laughs at everything, because a happy heart is what cures. He can’t have a long face or fight with his wife and children.

You started off with a desire for revenge, what changed you into a shaman? My grandfather saw that my heart was bitter and he told me that it would not get me anywhere. My heart was still hard and wanted to kill! Bit by bit through taking the very plants that I had intended to use for revenge, the spirits told me it was wrong to kill and my heart softened.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/ayahuasca-retreats-an-interview-with-an-amazonian-shaman-159043.html About the Author: Howard G. Charing, is an accomplished international workshop leader on shamanism. He has worked some of the most respected and extraordinary shamans & healers in the Andes, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Philippines. He organises specialist retreats to the Amazon Rainforest He is the author of the best selling book, Plant Spirit Shamanism (Destiny Books USA), and has published numerous articles about plant medicines. Website http://www.shamanism.co.uk

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Ancient Myths & Wormwood

Learn about shamanism and shamans.

Author: Ernie Fitzpatrick
A myth is a sacred story usually concerning the origins of the world or how the world and the creatures in it came to be their present form. Myths are the glue that holds all societies together. There's an element of truth embedded. So how much TRUTH (if any) is there in the ancient myths from Sumeria, Egypt, and Maya cultures about a visiting planet from afar?

This visiting planet has been given so many names. The Sumerians called the planet Nibiru which means "Planet of the crossing". Later cultures, including ours simply call what we "think" is out there, Planet X. Many believe that the book of Revelation (chapter 8) speaks of this same brown dwarf but gives it the name of Wormwood which means "bitter".

Ancient cultures estimated that this brown dwarf would visit our neighborhood approximately every 3,600 years and that the descriptions of the plagues of Egypt speaks of it's last visit to our solar system around 1,500 BCE.

The most current thinking, of those who think therre is actually something tangible to think about, estimate a visit anytime from 2009 to 2012 (naturally 2012!). The brown dwarf isn't just going to suddenly show up on December 21, 2012. If there is such a planet, we will SEE it COMING and it will create havoc for 2-3 years as it's makes its pass through our solar system tracking along the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

So, we will be able to affirm or debunk this theory sometime next year or there abouts. Or we may be able to confirm it.

Many say the confirmations began in 1982 when NASA announced a mystery object and then went silent about it. If it is getting close then there would be great effects on our solar system. Are the massive earthquakes, tsunamis, CAT 5 storms, and other anomalies an indication that our earth is feeling something ominous? Is the fact that we've had more than ONE MILLION people killed though natural disasters in the last seven years an indication that soemthing is up?

And what about global warming? Is it really solar warming? :-)

Ancient cultures have know things long since forgotten. The bitter truth is that we just might be on the cusp of being reminded again of things they once knew.About the Author:
As a spiritual-futurist my commentaries and articles deal primarily with an interpretation of current events in light of macro-universal forces at play.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Ancient Myths & Wormwood

Wormwood is a common name for specific plants of the Artemisia genus, which includes over 350 species worldwide. Two species used commonly in herbal medicine include A. absinthium (common wormwood) and A. annua (Chinese wormwood, or "qing hao").

Uses and Benefits:

Preparations of wormwood have been used as medicine for thousands of years. Common wormwood (A. absinthium) has traditionally been employed to eliminate parasitic worms and as an aromatic "bitter" to promote intestinal secretory activity for treating anorexia, dyspepsia, and "biliary dyskinesia." Absinthe, an alcoholic beverage made from A. absinthium extract, was extremely popular in turn-of-the-century France. Its mild hallucinogenic properties led to the belief that it stimulated "creative" and intellectual powers. Numerous artists, including Van Gogh, celebrated these effects; however, its use was ultimately banned because of purported CNS toxicity.

Chinese wormwood (A. annua) has been used for thousands of years by Chinese practitioners for the treatment of fever and related conditions, including malaria. In the 1970s, Chinese researchers isolated an active constituent of the herb, artemisinin (qinghaosu), and found that it had parasiticidal activity against both chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Artemisinin and several semi-synthetic derivatives are now used in Southeast Asia and Africa, especially for severe P. falciparum and multi-resistant malaria.

Pharmacology:

Common wormwood contains a number of biochemical compounds that have physiological effects. Absinthin and artabsin are believed responsible for the bitter properties of herb. Several studies of bitter oral wormwood extracts have ,monstrated increased gastric and biliary secretion in both animls and humans. The essential oil contains the terpenoid thume, which in toxic doses can cause autonomic excitability and onvulsions. Thujone is believed to be the ingredient in absinthe at is responsible for CNS toxicity. The structure of thujone is releated to camphor and tetrahydrocannabinol, the active component marijuana, which may account for some of the hallucinatory effects attributed to its use. Santonin, a sesquiterpene lactone isoladted from A. absinthium, can paralyze helminthic worms, which then unable to maintain their position within the bowellumenJ Other constituents of wormwood, including flavonoids, phenolic compounds, and coumarins, have in vitro antimicrobial, anti-tumor, ilepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, and insecticidal activity.

Extracts of Chinese wormwood also contain a number of volatile oils, including camphor, thujone, cineole, caryophyllene and artemisia ketone. The sesquiterpene lactone artemisinin (qinghaosu) has antimalarial activity both in animals and in vitro. Artemisinin and an active metabolite, dihydroartemisinin, have a rapid action, and parasite clearance times are much shorter than with other antimalarial drugs.

Clinical Trials:

Common Wormwood-Despite the long history of use as an antihelminthic, there are no controlled trials of the crude herb for use in humans. Santonin, isolated from A. absinthium,About the Author:

Steve Mathew is a writer, who writes many great articles on herbal medicines for common ailments and diseases. For more information on herbal remedies and home remedies visit our site on health care. Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Wormwood - Medicinal Uses, Interactions, Side Effects, Dosagewormwood - Medicinal Uses, Interactions, Side Effects, Dosage

Overview: A nice general overview about the healing value and uses of wormwood.

Wormwood: Its Medicinal Properties

Author: Andrew W John
If not for the medicinal properties of wormwood, we might not be enjoying this otherworldly drink known as absinthe today.

Due to a plethora of illnesses and ailments which wormwood was believed to cure, absinthe was first mass-produced in 1798 as a tonic. Thousands of years ago, wormwood had already been harvested in China as a cure for malaria thanks to its artemisinin component, which reacts with the high iron levels in the malarial parasite, producing free radicals. These then destroy the cell walls of the parasite, effectively subduing the illness. Today, it is still one of the most effective malarial cures and is still being sought in Asia and certain places in Africa.

The downside to this herb, however, is its extreme bitterness. This is why several other herbs have been added to the absinthe recipe to make the taste more appealing. On the other hand, it is exactly this tartness that stimulates the bitter-sensing taste buds of the tongue and consequently sends signals to our brain, stimulating our digestive system. It also excites the liver's bile production and bile storage in the gall bladder.

Below are more of wormwood's medicinal uses:

• As a digestive stimulant. Used in treating stomach pain, bloating, gas, heartburn, and indigestion.

• As a tonic in recuperation. Wormwood has been known to aid in the absorption of nutrients in the body, thus helping people recover from a long illness.

• As a purgative. This perennial shrub has been extensively used to purge intestinal worms (thus its name), particularly roundworms and pinworms.

• As an insecticide. Its hairy yellowish-green leaves contain glands that have resinous fragments where the natural insecticide resides.

• As a potential cancer cure. Research has shown that artemisinin, the same substance responsible for treating malaria, can also be used to target cancer cells.

• As a pain reliever. Wormwood has been used to relieve pains associated with childbirth, as well as muscle sores and pain due to arthritic joints, broken bones, and sprains.

• As an anti-inflammatory agent. It has long been known to cure inflammation of the gall bladder as well as certain types of infections, jaundice, and hepatitis.

• As a brain stimulant. Due to its component thujone, it has been used to treat mild depression and to restore impaired cognitive functions such as perceiving, remembering, and thinking.

Wormwood preparations should only be done by professionals in the field due to the danger of ingesting dangerously high levels of thujone. However, the thujone levels used in all our products are true to the original Swiss recipe and are highly regulated, safely giving you those sought-after effects when consumed in the recommended manner.